The Social Darwinist Imperium of The Ascendant Hive is a massive, efficient nation, ruled by Oryx the Taken King with an iron fist, and remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, complete lack of prisons, and compulsory military service. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless, devout population of 3.622 billion Ascendant Spawn are ruled with an iron fist by the corrupt, dictatorship government, which oppresses anyone who isn't on the board of a Fortune 500 company. Large corporations tend to be above the law, and use their financial clout to gain ever-increasing government benefits at the expense of the poor and unemployed.

The relatively small, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government is primarily concerned with Defense, with Industry, Law & Order, and Education also on the agenda, while Environment and Social Policy are ignored. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Ascendant Dreadnaught. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 70.4%.

The frighteningly efficient Ascendant Brood economy, worth a remarkable 1,653 trillion Ascendant Runes a year, is broadly diversified and mostly comprised of black market activity, especially in Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, Retail, and Uranium Mining. Average income is an amazing 456,473 Ascendant Runes, but there is a large disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 1,924,670 per year while the poor average 70,149, a ratio of 27.4 to 1.

Polygamy is legal, citizens are regularly arrested in queues for 'loitering', nobody ever questions the unquestioned rule that questions must always be asked, and worrywarts have started advocating for a paint ban. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. The Ascendant Hive's national animal is the Ascendant Worm, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is the Sword-Logic.

The Ascendant Hive is ranked 164,026^th in the world and 357^th in Forest for Highest Crime Rates, with 1.61 Crimes Per Hour.